1. ما ضَرَّكُم لَو قُلتُمُ سَدَداً

    إِنَّ المَنيَّةَ عاجِلٌ غَدُها

    What harm would it have done you to speak aright?

    Indeed, death’s morrow is close at hand.

  2. وَلَها عَلَينا نِعمَةٌ سَلَفَت

    لَسنا عَلى الأَيامِ نَجحَدُها

    And she has bestowed a kindness upon us before;

    we do not deny it as the days pass.

  3. لَو تَمَّمَت أَسبابَ نِعمَتِها

    تَمَّت بِذَلِكَ عِندَنا يَدُها

    Were she to perfect the means of her favor,

    her bounty toward us would thereby be complete.

  4. إِنّي وَإِيّاها كَمُفتَتِن

    بِالنارِ تُحرِقُهُ وَيَعبُدُها

    Truly, with her I am like one enthralled

    by fire: it burns him, yet he worships it.